READY, SET, 100TH DAY!
Author: Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Illustrator: Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
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Number of pages: 28
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children (USA) First published in: 2011 Format: Picturebook Is the mathematical focus explicit in the story? Yes Is this story part of a mathematics story series? No Preview and/or purchase this book on the Amazon websites: UK, USA, AUS, CAN Synopsis by the author/publisher
Soon it will be the one-hundreth day of school. Minna wants to come up with a really, really different idea for her Ready, Set, 100th project with the help of Mom, Dad, and Pip, Minna searches the house. She finds and makes all sort of things. She arranges them in sets, and she plays with them. But she’s "still thinking!" until, suddenly, she gets a BIG idea! Important math lessons are incorporated into Wallaces’s signature artwork using origami, recycled paper, markers, crayons, colored pencils and photographs. |
“Pip helped Minna tally the sticks. When they had twenty groups, Minna counted. "5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100!" "One hundred is a lot," said Pip. "Let's stack the sticks," said Minna.”
Official review by MathsThroughStories.org:
‘Ready, Set, 100th Day!’ (2011) is written and illustrated by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. The story follows a young rabbit, Minna, who attempted to create an artwork project for her 100th day of school, by arranging everyday objects into sets. The variation of the sets (e.g. 20 sets of 5 ice cream sticks, 5 sets of 20 pom-poms, and 4 sets of 25 paper clips) is useful to introduce young readers to the concepts of skip counting, with meaningful connections to be made with multiplication and division. (Whilst not the focus of the story, children could also be introduced to the concept of ordinal numbers by encouraging them to think about the difference between 100 and 100th. While we love the visual aspect of the book in that it clearly illustrates the variation of sets, we would have preferred there to be a more meaningful purpose for grouping objects in sets, just like other skip counting stories, such as ‘Count on Pablo’ and ‘Mr. Owl's Bakery’. This is to help children appreciate the real world application of mathematical knowledge beyond just using it to create a pretty artwork project. Nancy’s illustrations are unique, combining cut paper art with photographs of actual objects. All in all, we recommend ‘Ready, Set, 100th Day!’ for children aged 6+ years old to learn about skip counting. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher)
Recommended age range:
6 years old +
Relevant mathematics topics:
Counting forwards to and backwards from 100; Division; Multiplication; Ordinal numbers; Skip counting
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
‘Ready, Set, 100th Day!’ (2011) is written and illustrated by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. The story follows a young rabbit, Minna, who attempted to create an artwork project for her 100th day of school, by arranging everyday objects into sets. The variation of the sets (e.g. 20 sets of 5 ice cream sticks, 5 sets of 20 pom-poms, and 4 sets of 25 paper clips) is useful to introduce young readers to the concepts of skip counting, with meaningful connections to be made with multiplication and division. (Whilst not the focus of the story, children could also be introduced to the concept of ordinal numbers by encouraging them to think about the difference between 100 and 100th. While we love the visual aspect of the book in that it clearly illustrates the variation of sets, we would have preferred there to be a more meaningful purpose for grouping objects in sets, just like other skip counting stories, such as ‘Count on Pablo’ and ‘Mr. Owl's Bakery’. This is to help children appreciate the real world application of mathematical knowledge beyond just using it to create a pretty artwork project. Nancy’s illustrations are unique, combining cut paper art with photographs of actual objects. All in all, we recommend ‘Ready, Set, 100th Day!’ for children aged 6+ years old to learn about skip counting. (Disclaimer: We received a complimentary inspection copy of this book from the publisher)
Recommended age range:
6 years old +
Relevant mathematics topics:
Counting forwards to and backwards from 100; Division; Multiplication; Ordinal numbers; Skip counting
Possible teaching activities:
At MathsThroughStories.org, we believe that stories can be meaningfully incorporated in mathematics teaching in different ways. Thus, we are inviting you to share your experience of how you have used this story in your mathematics lesson with other members of the community. By sharing your experience with us, you will be added to our team of On-line Contributors here, where you can also find our submission guideline.
